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5D PC terminal flash weirdness

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Tom Julier

New member
I have been using an Elinchrom Ranger flash unit with my 5D connected via the PC terminal, with long-ish shutter speeds of 0.5 to 1 sec, and found that the flash fired twice - once at the beginning of the exposure and once at the end.

With the camera set to 1st curtain sync, the flash at the end of the exposure doesn't seem to be recorded so it must be after the shutter closes but its still very disconcerting.

Has anyone else noticed this?
 
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Tom Julier

New member
I apologise for replying to my own thread but I'm surprised that no one else has found this to be a problem. What about other flash units or triggering methods?

The flash triggers normally with a Canon EOS 3 film body and the shutter of a 5x4 lens so it would seem to be the Canon 5D that’s at fault.

Tom.
 
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Deleted member 55

Guest
Hi Tom,

Is Your Elinchrom Ranger flash unit battery powered?

If it is it may be transition triggered and would cause the flash to fire on closure as well as opening of the contacts.

This you would notice with a shutter time long enough to recycle the flash to fire again.
 
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Tom Julier

New member
Will Thompson said:
Is Your Elinchrom Ranger flash unit battery powered?
Click to expand...

Yes, the Ranger is battery powered but I haven't come across the term "transition triggered" before. Wouldn't you expect the EOS 5D and EOS 3 to have similar flash triggering behaviour?
 
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Deleted member 55

Guest
Tom Julier said:
Yes, the Ranger is battery powered but I haven't come across the term "transition triggered" before. Wouldn't you expect the EOS 5D and EOS 3 to have similar flash triggering behaviour?
Click to expand...

No I would not.

They have many years between them, have different shutters (the source of the flash sync signal) and most likely a different output buffer.

The 5D may not have a buffer like the 3 or the 1 series and just use a contact in the shutter.

What is the max sync voltage of the 5D?
 
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Mark Colston

New member
This may be a daft response - but is the first flash the pre-flash which the camera uses to decide the correct amount of flash to apply?

I know my 420 on my 350D does this.
 
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Tom Julier

New member
Not daft at all, except that the first flash happens when you would expect it to happen i.e. when the shutter opens. The second flash is the problem and it occurs as (or just after) the shutter closes.

I have spoken to The Flash Centre where I bought the Elinchrom Ranger and they think its a problem that can be fixed in the power pack/head.
 
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Tom Julier

New member
In case anyone is interested, having been back to The Flash Centre, it seems that the problem is limited to the 5D/Ranger combination. A 1-series Canon with the Ranger was fine as was a mains-powered flash head with the 5D.

The solution came down to using either a Wein Hot Shoe Safe Sync or Pocket Wizards to trigger the flash.
 
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Frank Doorhof

Guest
Hi,
Sorry to drop in so late :(
Same problem here but not only with Rangers also with Jinbei, FX Elinchrom, D-lite Elinchrom.

All with radio triggers.
However the problem only appears with settings over 1 second on my setup.
Still working on a solution.
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Thanks Frank for your input!

I use my 1DII for studio work and am taken back that the 5D has this limitation to use of a PC cord.

Does it apply to other makes of flash systems connected to the PC terminal?

I don't like the idea that one has to go for an expensive radio solution or a Wein Hot Shoe Safe Synch.

A PC cord should be able to work!

Asher
 
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Frank Doorhof

Guest
Of course it should.
I now have Second curtain flash enabled by the way, will change that to first curtain and see if the problem goes away.

Another solution on long exposures is to switch of the strobe after the first flash, but that is a bad solution.
 
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Tom Julier

New member
Triggering the Ranger via a hotshoe-mounted Pocket Wizard has solved the problem at all shutter speeds for me and my 5D. I don't know much about electronics, but the PW doesn't transmit the second signal generated when the shutter closes.

I was intending to get Pocket Wizards at some point in the future, and was lucky that they had an ex-demo set of the original Plus model at a more affordable price.

Obviously I would still like to hear from Canon/Elinchrom to learn where the incompatibility lies.
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Frank Doorhof said:
I will be testing the skyport system in the next 2 months from Elinchrom so hopefully that also solves the problems :D
Click to expand...
Frank,

Could you briefly describe Skyport? Can it be used with other systems?

Asher
 
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Frank Doorhof

Guest
It will be a competitor to the pocketwizards.
Don't know if it will work for other flash systems but I guess it will with some limitations.
With the Elinchrom RX series you can use a PC to set all the settings wireless for example.
 
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